Postmarks Album Of US Post Offices

This collection of US Postmarks is very large. It has all 50 states and each state has at least a one full page of Post Office post marks. Pictures of the first few pages:








Is there a catalog for identifying and valuing? Any estimates on value?

If you would like more images I can possibly do more in the next few days.

I do not know if I should keep it or sell it.

Catalogs for town cancels are usually by state, and collectors will typically collect by state or county.

Note that the cancels are generally cut down/incomplete, so any potential value is largely gone. Cancels are also very much preferred on cover. Don't expect a lot when/if you sell.

Very sad. What an incredible destruction of postal history. All that work to create something so nearly worthless. While I am reluctant to criticize how/what someone collects, this was a poor choice.

I honestly disagree and find this fascinating. The fact that someone put the time into this symbolizes the reason we collect. It doesn't matter if it's "worth money", as long as whoever put this together had a fun time collecting them, it was well worth it. I see it's value in how enjoyable it was for whoever made this, and not as much for a collector trying to pay top dollar for filling his "Postmark collection".

Thanks for the replies.

I agree that it is fascinating. The lady who put all that time and work for decades to nicely cut and organize all those postmarks. I will keep for now it since it is of more interest to me than it is likely worth. It may be fun to complete it. There are many empty spots.

This was the way postmarks were collected for a long time. The fashion then changed to 2 X 4 inch cuts. Now, collecting on full cover is preferred.

The Postmark Collectors Club has a full listing of Directories for sale.
http://www.postmarks.org/directory/

The directories do not list values. For most postmarks, the market value is minimal. You might find a niche buyer on ebay but don't expect a lot. Many postmark collectors simply swap postmarks.

You might want to consider taking up postmark collecting. It's an interesting side to philately.

Take a look at the club's website: http://www.postmarks.org/

Dan

To those who view this as a negative, value comes in many different forms, not always monetarily. How can one place 'value' on the fun and enjoyment of collecting stamps and the other many tangents it lends itself to? If stamp collecting was only about monetary value, I'd not be doing it, nor the plethora of other hobbies I enjoy.

Exactly. ggreve, if you continue to expand this, I think you'll agree that cancels from recent times are pretty poorly done so you might think about looking for things going back even to the '70s like the original collector had. Got old Christmas cards in envelopes piled up somewhere?

It is interesting that we have many threads that decry the breaking up of stamp multiples yet the view about 'breaking up' a cover seems more lenient.

If this had been a collection of rare postmarks, would folks still feel it was all right to 'break up' the covers they came from?

And even if this is a collection of more common postmarks, should we be encouraging the practice of 'breaking up' covers?
Don

I like it. Part of what makes stamp collecting so fantastic. There are just so many ways to enjoy the hobby.

I figure it this way Don to enjoy a hobby you have to be free to do it your way. It is when we apply hard fast rules we cut our numbers in the hobby.

Now teaching about the difference of doing this on classic cancels as opposed to 1970 covers is part of our obligation. This way the person understands the implications.

However in the end it is the owner of the stamp that gets to make the choice.

We should teach being good temporary custodians of the philatelic material which we own for a while before it gets passed on the future generations.
For those who "like" this album, please define what a good philatelic custodian is to you and how this album fits that definition.

First of all, this was from an old woman who was just doing it for the fun of doing it. She probably had an extremely enjoyable time putting it together, making memories that she kept dear to her. If you asked her even what the word philatelic meant, she most likely would have no clue. The fact of the matter is that someone put a lot of time and effort into this, and it may have destroyed some wonderful covers, but the person who put this together was satisfied with the end result.

-Jake

My answer would be, "yes." As a postmark collector, I do not collect like this, but we tell collectors all the time that "there aren't any rules." Why should this be different? There are very few "rare" postmarks. Yes, I would cringe if some old cover got whacked like this, especially something like an old DPO, but it is their collection to do as they want.

As a long time stamp collector, I've soaked many stamps. Aren't we then guilty of doing the same thing?

Dan

I guess I'm a heretic. I don't consider myself a "custodian" at all. I'm a collector. One of my best friends is a historian. He always tells me that "just because it is old, it isn't historic."

That sounds a lot like what collectors tell newbies, "just because it is old, it isn't rare."

Dan

This lady was an old school collector from what I can tell. She knew what she was doing, and collected many rare worldwide stamps. However being an old time collector she did use hinges on stamps where Scott would expect mounts. She was a savvy collector. The most important thing was you can tell is that she enjoy the collection. You can tell by the time that was put into it. Not just these postmarks but with all the worldwide stamps and covers as well. Why would someone spend so much time, and not enjoy it?

FYI she also had many interesting covers. For example, she had two #U613 – 1988 25c Snowflakes used full cover.